Cannabis law in Colorado

Sales open

January 1, 2014

Home grow

Yes, 6 plants

Delivery

Yes

Consumption lounges

Yes

Amendment 64 adopted by voters in 2012 (exact adoption date not on the fetched page); retail sales began January 1, 2014; MED began issuing retail delivery permits January 2, 2021; hospitality (on-site consumption) businesses authorized by HB 19-1230.

Home grow

Yes, 6 plants

Delivery

Yes

Amendment 20 adopted by voters in 2000 (exact date not on the fetched page); state licensing of medical marijuana businesses began August 1, 2010; patients may grow six plants, three flowering; medical delivery permits issued since January 2, 2020 per the 2020 legislative handbook.

Statute

Colo. Const. art. XVIII, sec. 14

Statute

C.R.S. Title 44, Article 10

Administrative code

1 CCR 212-3 (Inventory Tracking System rules)

Agency

Home

Amount

15%

Applied to

Retail Price

Programs

Adult Use

Stacks with sales tax

No

Collected by

Retail Marijuana Store At The Point Of Sale; Remitted To The Colorado Department Of Revenue. The Store May NOT Retain Any Portion Of The Tax To Cover The Cost Of Collecting And Remitting It.

Filing

Monthly, And It Is A SEPARATE Return From The Ordinary Sales Tax Return. 1 CCR 201-18, Rule 39-28.8-201(2): Any Vendor Making Sales Of Retail Marijuana At A Retail Marijuana Store Shall File A Retail Marijuana Sales Tax Return, And (2)(A) It Shall Be Filed ELECTRONICALLY By All Such Vendors, With A Good-Cause Waiver Available Under (2)(B). 1 CCR 212-3, Rule 3-910(A): State And State-Collected Sales And Use Tax Returns Must Be Filed And Remitted On Or Before The 20th Day Of The Month Following The Reporting Month; If The 20th Falls On A Weekend Or Holiday The Next Business Day Is The Due Date. C.R.S. 39-26-105(1)(B) Sets The Same 20th-Of-The-Month Deadline For The Ordinary Sales Tax Return.

Amount

15%

Applied to

Wholesale Price

Programs

Adult Use

Stacks with sales tax

No

Collected by

Retail Marijuana Cultivation Facility, At The Time It First Sells Or Transfers Unprocessed Retail Marijuana To A Retail Marijuana Products Manufacturing Facility Or A Retail Marijuana Store. A Retail Marijuana Store Never Remits This Tax.

Filing

Monthly. C.R.S. 39-28.8-304(1): Every Retail Marijuana Cultivation Facility Shall File A Return With The Department Each Month.

Amount

2.9%

Applied to

Retail Price

Programs

Medical

Stacks with sales tax

Yes

Collected by

Medical Marijuana Store At The Point Of Sale; Remitted To The Colorado Department Of Revenue With The Ordinary State Sales Tax Return

Filing

Monthly, On Or Before The 20th Day Of The Month Following The Reporting Month (1 CCR 212-3, Rule 3-910(A))

Seeds

6

Flower G

28.35

Concentrate G

8

Edible Thc Mg

800

Counted as

Flower Equivalent

Enforced across

Per Store

Flower G

56.7

Plants Total

6

Mature Plants

3

Counted as

Independent Categories

Enforced across

Statewide Registry

Regulated Marijuana Stores may sell or serve only between 8:00 a.m. and 12:00 a.m. Mountain Time, Monday through Sunday, and a Local Jurisdiction may narrow those hours further.

Trigger

sale

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store, Co-Accelerator-Store

A business with a delivery permit may not make or complete a delivery between 12:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. Mountain Time, but it may accept delivery orders 24 hours a day.

Trigger

delivery

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store-Delivery-Permit, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store-Delivery-Permit, Co-Retail-Marijuana-Transporter, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Transporter

Licensees are prohibited from Transferring, giving or distributing Retail Marijuana to a person under 21, and from permitting a person under 21 to enter the Restricted Access Area at all.

Trigger

age_verify

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store, Co-Accelerator-Store, Co-Retail-Marijuana-Hospitality-And-Sales-Business

Customer classes

Adult, Non Resident

A licensee must verify a valid government-issued photo ID on TWO separate occasions, once before letting the person into the Restricted Access Area and again before initiating the Transfer.

Trigger

age_verify

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store, Co-Accelerator-Store

Only the identification types listed in Rule 3-405(C) are adequate, digital versions count if valid and verified, and the licensee shall refuse the Transfer if the identification produced is invalid or expired.

Trigger

age_verify

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store, Co-Accelerator-Store, Co-Retail-Marijuana-Hospitality-And-Sales-Business

A patient between 18 and 20 years old may be sold no more than two grams of Medical Marijuana Concentrate per business day instead of eight, unless the patient is homebound or holds a uniform certification form stating a greater need, a physical or geographic hardship, or a registry card held before age 18.

Trigger

sale

Licence types

Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store

Customer classes

Minor Patient, Patient

Block any transaction exceeding one ounce of Retail Marijuana flower or its equivalent (8 g concentrate, or 800 mg of THC in product), plus at most six seeds, counting all Transfers to the same consumer during the same business day.

Trigger

sale

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store, Co-Accelerator-Store

Customer classes

Adult, Non Resident

Do not sell a patient more than two ounces of Medical Marijuana flower, eight grams of concentrate (two grams if aged 18 to 20) or 20,000 mg of Medical Marijuana Product in a single business day, individually or in any combination, nor more than six immature plants or six seeds.

Trigger

sale

Licence types

Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store

Customer classes

Patient, Caregiver, Minor Patient

Every unit of Regulated Marijuana must carry an Inventory Tracking System tag from a Division-approved vendor, tags may never be reused, and the sale must be recorded in the Inventory Tracking System in real time at the point of sale, so a line without a package UID cannot be completed.

Trigger

sale

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store, Co-Accelerator-Store

A licensee must reconcile all on-premises and in-transit Regulated Marijuana inventory in the Inventory Tracking System each day at the close of business.

Trigger

shift_close

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store, Co-Accelerator-Store, Co-Retail-Marijuana-Cultivation-Facility, Co-Retail-Marijuana-Products-Manufacturer, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Cultivation-Facility, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Products-Manufacturer

If Inventory Tracking System access is lost the licensee must keep comprehensive manual records of every tracking activity during the outage, document when access was lost and restored, enter it all once access returns, and may NOT Transfer marijuana to another Regulated Marijuana Business until access is restored and all information is recorded.

Trigger

transfer_out

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store, Co-Accelerator-Store, Co-Retail-Marijuana-Transporter, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Transporter

The Inventory Tracking System entry must accurately include a note explaining the reason for any destruction of Regulated Marijuana and the reason for any adjustment of weights to a package, and both the business and the individual user are responsible for the accuracy of every entry.

Trigger

inventory_adjust

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store, Co-Accelerator-Store, Co-Retail-Marijuana-Cultivation-Facility, Co-Retail-Marijuana-Products-Manufacturer

Marijuana from a package or production batch associated with a failed contaminant or potency test must be physically separated and may not be Transferred or further processed, and the Division may enforce the quarantine inside the Inventory Tracking System by flagging the failed result and blocking Transfer of the package.

Trigger

sale

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store, Co-Accelerator-Store

A store shall not Transfer any expired Edible Marijuana Product, Vaporizer Delivery Device, Pressurized Metered Dose Inhaler, Audited Marijuana Product or Alternative Use Product to a patient or consumer.

Trigger

sale

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store, Co-Accelerator-Store

A licensee is prohibited from accepting any Regulated Marijuana from another Regulated Marijuana Business without receiving a valid Inventory Tracking System generated transport manifest, and all information on it must be accurate.

Trigger

transfer_in

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store, Co-Accelerator-Store

A licensee may transport Regulated Marijuana only while holding a copy of an Inventory Tracking System generated transport manifest in the Division's prescribed format, hard copy or digital, and only between Licensed Premises, a permitted off-premises storage facility, or a Pesticide Manufacturer.

Trigger

transfer_out

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store, Co-Accelerator-Store, Co-Retail-Marijuana-Transporter, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Transporter

Any natural person who handles or transports Regulated Marijuana, or who has access to or enters data into the Inventory Tracking System, must hold a valid Owner License or Employee License, must have it accessible at all times and present it on request, and must not alter, obscure, damage or deface it.

Trigger

sale

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store, Co-Accelerator-Store, Co-Retail-Marijuana-Transporter, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Transporter

Delivery is a separate permit, not a store privilege; a Regulated Marijuana Store without a valid delivery permit cannot deliver at all, and a Transporter may deliver on a store's behalf under contract only if the store ALSO holds a valid delivery permit.

Trigger

delivery

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store, Co-Retail-Marijuana-Transporter, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Transporter

Delivery is not permitted in any municipality, county, or city and county unless that jurisdiction has affirmatively voted to allow it, and no delivery may go to an address outside the state of Colorado.

Trigger

delivery

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store-Delivery-Permit, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store-Delivery-Permit, Co-Retail-Marijuana-Transporter, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Transporter

The person delivering must hold a valid occupational licence, be a current employee of the permitted store or transporter, and have completed proof-of-age identification training, and the business must hold a valid responsible vendor designation including the delivery curriculum BEFORE its first delivery.

Trigger

delivery

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store-Delivery-Permit, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store-Delivery-Permit, Co-Retail-Marijuana-Transporter, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Transporter

Colorado does NOT require a second person in a delivery vehicle; it restricts who may be in one, requiring only that every occupant during a delivery hold a State Licensing Authority licence and be identified on the transport manifest, so one licensed person may lawfully run a delivery route alone.

Trigger

delivery

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store-Delivery-Permit, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store-Delivery-Permit, Co-Retail-Marijuana-Transporter, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Transporter

The delivery vehicle must be owned or leased by the licensee or an Owner Licensee, registered in Colorado and insured, carry real-time remotely accessible GPS tracking not shown to customers, bear no marijuana markings, keep product out of sight, have a security alarm and a securely affixed locked opaque storage compartment, record video of that compartment and the front view for at least 30 days, and never leave Colorado with product aboard.

Trigger

delivery

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store-Delivery-Permit, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store-Delivery-Permit, Co-Retail-Marijuana-Transporter, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Transporter

Delivery may go only to a private residence, meaning a private premises where a person lives such as a dwelling, house, multi-dwelling unit or apartment, and never to a school, a campus of an institution of higher education, public property, or a commercial property unit such as an office or retail space.

Trigger

delivery

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store-Delivery-Permit, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store-Delivery-Permit, Co-Retail-Marijuana-Transporter, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Transporter

No more than one delivery per business day to the same consumer or patient or to the same private residence where the licensee knows or reasonably should know a delivery has already been made, though more than one person at the same residence may be served in one visit.

Trigger

delivery

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store-Delivery-Permit, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store-Delivery-Permit, Co-Retail-Marijuana-Transporter, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Transporter

At the door the licensee must verify the recipient's acceptable identification, that the recipient is at least 21, and that the recipient is the same person who placed the order, must refuse the delivery if any of that cannot be established, and must record on the transport manifest the delivery time, the recipient's name and identification number, the residence address, an acknowledgement of receipt, any patient or caregiver registry number, and for any delivery that could not be completed the reason why.

Trigger

delivery

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store-Delivery-Permit, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store-Delivery-Permit, Co-Retail-Marijuana-Transporter, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Transporter

The licensed store shall charge a one-dollar surcharge on EVERY delivery and remit the surcharges monthly to the municipality where the store is located, or to the county if it is in an unincorporated area, for local marijuana law enforcement costs.

Trigger

delivery

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store-Delivery-Permit, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store-Delivery-Permit

A licensee who cannot complete a delivery for any reason must return the marijuana to the originating store or off-premises storage facility; if the Container is unopened and untampered it may go back into inventory and be reconciled in the Inventory Tracking System by the close of business that same day, otherwise it must be destroyed under Rule 3-230.

Trigger

return

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store-Delivery-Permit, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store-Delivery-Permit, Co-Retail-Marijuana-Transporter, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Transporter

A Retail Marijuana Store may not give away Retail Marijuana to a consumer for any reason.

Trigger

discount

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store, Co-Accelerator-Store

Customer classes

Adult, Non Resident

Flower or trim in a Container that is not Child-Resistant must go into a Child-Resistant Exit Package at the point of Transfer, concentrate must be in a Child-Resistant Container, no Container may exceed the sales limit, labels must carry the Universal Symbol and the required statement of intended use and potency, must not appeal to children, use the word candy, make health or benefit claims or mislead, and on every concentrate sale the state's tangible concentrate education resource must be physically attached to the receipt, the container or the exit packaging.

Trigger

labeling

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store, Co-Accelerator-Store

The Restricted Access Area must be supervised by a licensee at all times when customers are present, accessible product displays must be supervised at all times, staff must make reasonable efforts to limit the number of customers relative to the number of licensees present, the area must carry the prescribed 12 by 12 inch access sign, and a Retail Marijuana Store must post the pregnancy warning at every point of sale.

Trigger

sale

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store, Co-Accelerator-Store

Retailers must add the tax to the sale price showing it as a separate and distinct item, and proof of retail marijuana sales taxes must be identifiable in the licensee's tax records, tracking systems and the sales receipts provided to consumers.

Trigger

sale

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store, Co-Accelerator-Store

All Regulated Marijuana waste must be made unusable and Unrecognizable before it leaves the Licensed Premises, normally by grinding or compacting and mixing it with listed non-consumable solid waste so the result is at least 50 percent non-marijuana and cannot easily be separated, must be weighed and tracked in the Inventory Tracking System until disposal, and may only be disposed of in a secured receptacle in the licensee's possession and control.

Trigger

destruction

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store, Co-Accelerator-Store, Co-Retail-Marijuana-Cultivation-Facility, Co-Retail-Marijuana-Products-Manufacturer, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Cultivation-Facility, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Products-Manufacturer

Advertising may not be deceptive, false or misleading in any medium or on any product, sign or document given to a patient or consumer; television, radio, print and internet advertising is allowed only where at least 71.6 percent of the audience is reasonably expected to be 21 or older; no safety claim may rest on the fact that the business is state regulated or that the product was tested; branding may not target people under 21; and concentrate advertising must carry the Division's overconsumption notice.

Trigger

advertising

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store, Co-Accelerator-Store, Co-Retail-Marijuana-Cultivation-Facility, Co-Retail-Marijuana-Products-Manufacturer, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Cultivation-Facility, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Products-Manufacturer, Co-Retail-Marijuana-Hospitality-And-Sales-Business

Colorado's marijuana rules contain NO tied-house prohibition on a cultivator or products manufacturer paying a store for in-store advertising, shelf space or placement, so such an arrangement is neither expressly permitted nor expressly forbidden and must be reviewed before it is booked.

Trigger

advertising

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store, Co-Accelerator-Store

Every licensee must retain all books and records necessary to fully account for its business transactions, plus tax documents and Standard Operating Procedures, for the current tax year and the three immediately prior tax years, must keep the preceding six months of books and records ON the Licensed Premises at all times, and must produce them to the Division on request.

Trigger

record_retention

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store, Co-Accelerator-Store, Co-Retail-Marijuana-Cultivation-Facility, Co-Retail-Marijuana-Products-Manufacturer, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Cultivation-Facility, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Products-Manufacturer, Co-Retail-Marijuana-Transporter, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Transporter, Co-Retail-Marijuana-Testing-Facility

Surveillance recordings must be kept a minimum of 30 days in an easily viewable, tamper-evident archive with the date and time embedded and synchronised to the point-of-sale system, Limited Access Areas must be recorded 24 hours a day, point-of-sale camera coverage must capture the transaction, and after the 30 days lapse recordings must be erased or destroyed before the business is sold or the media discarded unless a proceeding is pending.

Trigger

record_retention

Licence types

Co-Retail-Marijuana-Store, Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store, Co-Accelerator-Store, Co-Retail-Marijuana-Cultivation-Facility, Co-Retail-Marijuana-Products-Manufacturer

Before a medical Transfer the licensee must physically view and inspect proof of identification, a valid patient or caregiver registry card (or a new registry application documented as submitted to CDPHE within the preceding 35 days) and the physician certification carrying the maximum recommended THC potency, and judge the authenticity of each.

Trigger

patient_verify

Licence types

Co-Medical-Marijuana-Store

Customer classes

Patient, Caregiver, Minor Patient